Finally on the road again

It seems like forever since we scurried back from the South Island just as the Covid epidemic began, and although we have done a few short weekend trips since then, this is the first big trip we had planned. Originally we were headed for Warbirds over Wanaka, but that got cancelled, and in the meantime we had a new addition to the family – Beau. We had to wait until he was fully vaccinated before we could travel with him. He was worth the wait though.

We had a super early start on our trip as Bruce had to be in Thames for an appointment at 10am, but we made it on time (JUST), and from then on it was a relaxing drive south. On this trip we want to stay at a few places we have not stayed at before, so our first night was in PioPio at a delightful council park over property.

Good facilities for just $5 a night.

There was a bit of traffic noise but still a pleasant stop along the way. We opted to travel down the west coast to my friend Jenny’s place and have a stop on the New Plymouth area for a night along the way. Me, being the bright spark that I am, wanted to take the dogs for a beach walk. The first attempt at this was a place called White Cliffs. The write ups and pictures I had seen of this walk looked spectacular. It was 11kms down a road from the main high way to the coast. The first half was OK but the second half was one lane all the way. That was fine except we had a line of utes coming towards us. Fortunately they all drove off the road so we could pass. After about 10.5kms we came to a point in the road with a sign warning that if we went any further there would be no opportunities for turning around (hence 500m or so of backing) and no dogs allowed. So, disappointed we turned around and went back to the highway.

Next we found another little road to the coast so we tried that. It looked like it went quite steeply down to the beach so I walked part way down to see what access was like. It looked like there was a little turning bay but the beach was rocky, and the tide was in so not really a place to walk the dogs, and this is what I reported back to Bruce. He decided to go anyway, and so began the next drama. The parking bay sloped to the sea with just a wooden barrier protecting car from dropping over the small cliff into the sea. Bruce pulled in up to the barrier but the handbrake was not enough to hold the vehicle on the slope, and you cannot put one foot on the brake and one on the accelerator at the same time without upsetting the vehicle computer, so every time he went to accelerate to go back he went forward closer to the barrier. It really looked like he was going to end up driving off the cliff! I have never been so scared in all my life. On the final attempt he really booted it and succeeded in going backwards and we were able to get out of there. I was so over it by this time, and really suffering from the adrenaline rush that I no longer wanted a beach walk, so we headed for the Bell Block NZMCA Park .

There was really heavy rain that night, but the park was all gravel, so no worries there, and now recovered from yesterday we decided again on a beach walk for the dogs. This time we went to Oakura which has a wide surf beach, and no dramas with parking.

We ended up in Wanganui about half an hour before Jenny finished work, and had a lovely weekend with her. We got to deliver, and hang her mosaic which looks lovely alongside the previous one I had made her.

As usual the dogs made themselves comfortable, and Bruce and I were treated to gourmet meals. Sad to leave on Sunday but also looking forward to the next adventure.

On Sunday we drove south to Paraparaumu to stay with friends Brendon and Helen. Once again we received a very warm welcome and the dogs had lots of cuddles. It was a great catch up. Helen cooked us lovely meals and there were lots of stories told. They have sold their motorhome and are waiting on the delivery of a new one from Zion, but that will be a year away or so.

It was an early departure on Tuesday to catch the Ferry across Cook Strait. This morning we even had to get the dogs out of bed (payback Beau), but made it to the ferry terminal in plenty of time. We were hoping to meet up with Marina (from Abano days) but that did not work out unfortunately. I went out to the main entrance to meet her, and by the time I decided she was not there they had locked the gates. I was on the outside and Bruce and the dogs were on the inside. Bruce meantime, was told to proceed onto the ferry, so he told them he couldn’t because he had lost his driver, so they hustled him off to the side. I managed to get them to let me in through the office so caught up to the motorhome and we drove on, but that was a bit chaotic, and more adrenaline flowing through my system. This holiday lark is hard work!

The crossing was lovely in Wellington Harbour, but outside of that it got very rolly for a while before it settled down. We had a cabin that looked out towards the bow of the ship and the view through that was lovely, but we also went up on the viewing deck from time to time.

Overall a good crossing and the next stage of our holiday begins.